I personally think that some people like to play it safe and "gain respect" from people by associating themselves with big and well established organizations. I know a lot of people who work in Goldman Sachs and the like, in the back office. They get paid quite ok, obviously not as much as the front office. However, they mostly do not have as much time to spend on monitoring their investments as I do.

I used to work for such a financial institution and my friends used to respect me a lot and ask for me opinion a lot. However, I realize that I don't know as much then as now! I used to be so focused on my small little part, that I failed to look at the big picture. Now, I spend my day reading all sorts of books from bookstores and articles online. I monitor all my investments closely and self-learn several investment techniques. I think I am doing pretty ok in my investments and earn more now than I ever did working for the bank.

Maybe I do not yearn for the satisfaction of climbing the corporate ladder as some of the guys do. Maybe because I am a woman and have a husband who earns quite a steady and large pay packet.

What I am a bit upset about is that my friends who do not know that I earn this much money on the side are always envious that I can "stay home and be a tai tai" and thinks that my husband is the one who (through his pay packet) afforded me all the luxuries. On one hand, it is true that he gives me stability by having a steady pay, which allows me to free up my time to take this risk on staying home to dabble with investments (mostly stocks and property). However, whenever we buy a house etc, almost 90% of the down payment comes from the profits from my stocks and investments. 10% comes from his salary savings =)

Yeah, now that I have a million in the bank (not counting my studio in CBD), I aim to make another million out of it. I think the next million will still be difficult but I will keep carrying on until I make a few millions out of my million.

Maybe I should just not buy that Semi-D for the time being. I saw some that I like but the owners are RIDICULOUS. Through some of my sources, I know the price that they bought. For example one owner bought his semi-d in 2003 for 1.3M. I am willing to give him cheque for 2.3M, yet he wants to hold out for 2.4M. If I were him, I'd take the 1M profit and run!!! It is really a sellers' market now. I will hold out more for the general sentiment to soften further. I don't believe interest rates will not rise!

Good things come to those who wait. Meanwhile I will continue to stay with my parents and make more money.